Social Movements
Abstract
The Effect of Religious Opposition on the Mexican-American War, 1846-1848
By April Pickens, History Major
James Madison University
The Mexican-American War began in dubious circumstances, and some Americans disagreed with “Polk’s War” from the beginning. But it was the united efforts of three Protestant denominations—the Congregationalists, the Unitarians, and the Quakers—that finally turned a large segment of the populace against the war. They were able to do this with their multiplying publications, which wielded significant influence in the religiously aware society that existed in America after the Second Great Awakening. When sufficient numbers of ordinary citizens and politicians began voicing their disapproval of the war, Polk and his administration realized they had to accept a fairly lenient peace treaty with Mexico. If the President had rejected the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (which fulfilled all of his original terms), he would have alienated the majority of the American public and doomed his own and his party’s political careers.
Included in
The Effect of Religious Opposition on the Mexican-American War (1846-1848)
The Effect of Religious Opposition on the Mexican-American War, 1846-1848
By April Pickens, History Major
James Madison University
The Mexican-American War began in dubious circumstances, and some Americans disagreed with “Polk’s War” from the beginning. But it was the united efforts of three Protestant denominations—the Congregationalists, the Unitarians, and the Quakers—that finally turned a large segment of the populace against the war. They were able to do this with their multiplying publications, which wielded significant influence in the religiously aware society that existed in America after the Second Great Awakening. When sufficient numbers of ordinary citizens and politicians began voicing their disapproval of the war, Polk and his administration realized they had to accept a fairly lenient peace treaty with Mexico. If the President had rejected the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (which fulfilled all of his original terms), he would have alienated the majority of the American public and doomed his own and his party’s political careers.
